Fifth Time's the Charm
by Mort de L'oignon
Summary: Time-travelling AU. The five times history repeated itself and the one time something changed. ELSANNA.


_I am still alive and and feebly struggling in the fandom. Hopefully I shall be kicking soon. This is supposed to be a time-travelling AU but seems to miss the mark somewhere. Or maybe it doesn't. Your call. Thank you for reading my work. Cheers to all. _

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The first time she met the girl it was 1488, a year after the War of the Roses.

"I-You..Your hair," she blurted out. "It's just like a rose."

She flushed in shame each time she remembered that time. How foolish she must have sounded. The girl giggled and handed her the water she had asked for with a mocking curtsy. Or a badly made sincere one. She suspected it was both.

"Why thank you kind stranger," replied the girl with a smile. "But I don't just elope with any beautiful stranger that speaks so charmingly. Perhaps you should come back a few more times to convince me some more."

The girl was gone the next day.

She watched the crying housewife from a distance. The torn and bloody ribbon felt oddly heavy in her hands and she wondered why she had taken it in the first place. A second earlier and she could have saved her. She shook the thoughts from her head and regarded the ribbon. A memento a girl who she met but once? She shook the foolish thoughts from her head but pocketed the ribbon all the same.

The second time she was stunned by the shockingly close resemblance between the girl in front of her and the one who owned the ribbon that tied back her own hair. It was 1929, the era of flapper fashion and she could only stare.

She stuttered, wanting to say something yet quite unsure as to what to say.

"Awful rude of you to stare like that," the girl remarked. "I know I'm pretty but I'll thank you not to drool, stranger."

The words snapped her from her reverie and she stammered a hasty apology, averting her eyes and cursing the heat that rose to her cheeks. The girl laughed, her eyes crinkling in amusement and she was once again mesmerized by the similarities. But for the clothes and hairstyle, she could have sworn it was the same person.

"So whereabouts are you from?" asked the girl. "You're not from around here that's for sure. Never seen clothes like that in my life and I know a lot."

She belatedly realized that her outfit was a good few hundred years out of date.

"From somewhere far away," she replied, telling herself that she wasn't really lying. They were from somewhere very far away.

The girl shrugged.

"Oh well, they look awfully odd. Not bad," she hastened to assure. "Just odd. Pity that big lug of mine's off at work right now. He loves odd things."

The odd cringing sensation in her chest increased as the girl began to gush forth about her boyish lover.

"I wish you all the best," she said as the girl paused for breath. "But I really must be going now. It was lovely to meet you."

Her sudden desire to leave must have startled the girl for she quickly stood as well.

"Wait, I'm sorry for blabbing on like that," the girl said, suddenly anxious. "Everyone tells me that I just go off on tangents like it's my job. Stay a little while. I'd like to know you better."

She hesitated, part of her desperately wanting to accept the girl's offer. Sensing her indecision, the girl pulled a clip from her purse and proffered her.

"Here, take this."

Confused, she took the clip and looked to it's owner for clarification. The girl grinned.

"I'm letting you borrow it. It'll keep those bangs from your face, cute as you are with them down, and it'll be a nice addition to that rag you use to tie your hair back" she said. "But since I'm only letting you borrow it, you better return it soon."

Not waiting for a reply, the girl spun on her heel and trotted away, tossing her final words over her shoulder.

"I'll be waiting for you!"

Dumbfounded but amused by the gift, she chuckled and strode away, feeling oddly giddy.

The third time they met, almost ten years later, she was too late.

Desperately pressing her padded jacket to the girl's stomach, she waited for help to arrive, knowing full well that they wouldn't be able to do anything about the injury.

"You came back," said the girl.

She hushed the girl, screaming for help once again, furious that she could do no more than this.

A hand brushed her bangs from her eyes.

"You're not using the clip I gave you," whispered the girl. Her eyelids fluttered, remaining closed for longer and longer periods of time.

"No, no, please, stay with me. You can make it."

A faint smile tugged at the girl's lips as she struggled to sit up. A fresh flow of blood surged forth, staining the jacket pressed to her wound. Grunting in pain, the girl lay back down and beckoned. Obedient, she leaned forward and felt her bangs being smoothed back and cold metal threading into them. The girl smiled at her handiwork.

"Much better," she murmured, her eyes falling shut.

Another explosion sounded in the background and she blinked back the tears that threatened to fall from watery eyes. Covering the girl with her jacket, she laboured to cover the body with fallen debris, creating a stony grave for the fallen girl before walking away.

The fourth time they met, she thought she was hallucinating. It seemed impossible that she would meet three different people at three different points in time who were so impossible similar.

It was a bright sunny day sometime in the early 21st century and it had greeted her with a rock to her head.

"I'm so so sorry for throwing that rock at you! I thought you were a bear, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

Her excellent view of the sky and the throbbing ache in her head suggested a possible concussion.

"Are you okay? Should I get a doctor?"

She sat up, the world around her swaying slightly. The girl had neglected to dress herself and she felt herself rather distracted by the amount of skin on display to her. She held up a hand to stem the flow of concern from the scantily-clad girl next to her.

"I apologize," she said, her words rather slurred. "I did not mean to walk in upon you…your nakedness."

The girl flushed and she noticed that it was absolutely adorable.

"Sorry," she stammered. "I probably shouldn't have been skinny-dipping in broad daylight, huh? The water just looked so comfortable and the weather's been so hot lately that I thought it might be fun." She trailed off. "I really am sorry about your head. Do you want me to get you some ice?"

"No no, it's alright."

The girl fidgeted.

"My family and I, we're having a barbeque later. Do you want to come?" Laughing slightly, the girl continued. "It's the least I could do after throwing a rock at you."

The offer was kind and completely unexpected. She wanted to accept but surely it was a coincidence. Three times meeting three girls with the same face who asked her to stay three times over. She demurred the offer, regretful yet comforting herself that this was the right thing to do. The feelings that stirred in her chest in the company of this girl were too foreign, almost frightening. She chuckled softly to herself that night as she charted her next destination. Wasn't it foolish for her, at her age, to be infatuated with a girl whose name she didn't even know.

Yet she couldn't help but dream.

The final time they met it was as a nobleman's daughter and a travelling minstrel at a banquet celebrating the marriage of the daughter to the son of a wealthy lord.

"You play well," commented the nobleman's daughter to the minstrel. "May I ask your name?"

The minstrel bowed her head respectfully.

"Milady is too kind," she murmured. "It was but a simple tune."

She glanced upwards into blue eyes. The same face, the same smile and mannerisms. This was no longer a simple coincidence. She looked down.

"Why does milady look so troubled upon her wedding day? Is something the matter?"

The nobleman's daughter frowned and the minstrel hastened to apologize.

"No, do not apologize," scolded the bride. "It is true."

She beckoned. "Come," she ordered. "Walk with me."

Out in the cool of the courtyard, the lady sighed, stretched luxuriously.

"It's nice to be out of there," she remarked. "I felt as though I was being suffocated."

She turned towards the minstrel that lagged a step behind her.

"Tell me about yourself, your adventures. I've always wanted to go on an adventure." A tinge of regret coloured her words. "I fear that once I've been married I shall have none at all. My life will be to tend to my lord, the castle and our children."

"But if you love him, then-"

The minstrel's words were cut off by a harsh laugh.

"But I don't, not in a romantic manner. I see him as a brother but my father insists that once we are married I'll grow to see him as a lover."

She flopped down upon a courtyard bench. "I don't want to get married," she pouted. "I want to explore and see the world and when I do get married it'll be to someone I have chosen for myself."

The minstrel's heart skipped a beat. She quickly calmed herself, trying to sound casual.

"Milady, if someone, anyone that is, were to say that they could." She spoke quickly, fearful of losing this sudden burst of courage and worried that someone might come out to look for the missing bride. "If someone were to say to you that they could bring you away, bring you on an adventure that would last you the rest of your life and perhaps that they had been looking for you for a very long time now, would you perhaps agree to go with them?"

A smile played at the lips of the nobleman's daughter. The minstrel held her breath. She could hear voices, people crying out for the absent bride to return to her wedding. They were drunk and the minstrel wrinkled her nose in absentminded disgust.

"Yes."

"Pardon?"

A smile that made the minstrel's heart flip over in her chest and wide excited eyes greeted her confused look. She hadn't expected a reply.

"Yes, I would say yes because I would like nothing better in all the world."

The voices grew louder as the minstrel returned the smile with a shy one of her own and offered her new companion her hand.

"Shall we then?" she asked, turning to leave.

"Wait." A tug upon her hand stopped her. She looked curiously at the girl that stood by the bench. A teasing smile played upon her lips, blue eyes dancing with mirth beneath hair the colour of autumn leaves. "How bold of you to expect that I elope with a stranger whose name I don't even know. Do you promise all ladies the time of their life without so much as telling them your name?"

"Oh!"

The minstrel flushed hotly. It had been so long since she had used her name. She couldn't quite remember the last time someone had said her name out loud to her.

"I-Elsa," she said, the word falling clumsily from her lips. It sounded foreign even in her own ears. "My name's Elsa."

"Elsa…" The word coming from the girl's lips sent a pleasant shiver up her spine. "My name is Anna of Arendelle." A smile that had her feeling awkward as a child. "It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Hands tightly clasped, they took three steps away from the courtyard bench. When the party-goers arrived not a minute after, the groom searching for his bride and the strange minstrel that she had left the banquet with, it was as though they were never there.

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_Thank you for reading. If you happen to have or be currently reading my other work Liar Liar, it is about 80% finished and will hopefully be up in the next few days. Sorry for the wait. _


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